ICAS: Taxpayers denied time to deal with CGT changes
Courts say three months for taxpayers to deal with tax changes is barely sufficient; the government gives less than that on CGT, argues ICAS
Providing new CGT rule details just weeks before they come into effect could
deny tax payers the right to a reasonable period of time to claim reliefs,
according to ICAS.
The Scottish institute claims that previous legal judgments suggest previous
transitional periods of 90 days are insufficient, but this is even less time
than the government is giving tax payers on this occasion.
Chancellor Alistair Darling announced on 24 January that he would introduce
an entrepreneurs’ relief from the full rate of CGT, allowing them to pay CGT at
10% for the first million pounds in gains.
‘It would be irresponsible to enact complex changes and not give a sufficient
transitional period for taxpayers to consider the implications and arrange their
affairs properly,’ said ICAS director of taxation Derek Allen.
‘At the very least, the chancellor should defer the implementation of this
legislation for up to two years. If this is not possible, he should still allow
taxpayers who owned assets at 6 October 2007 a period of up to two years to sell
those assets and gain the benefit of indexation allowance.’
Further reading:
CGT changes threaten workers share
schemes